PHILIPPINES
Tweeting official apologizes
An official visiting Vietnam with President Benigno Aquino III has apologized after posting a disparaging comment on Twitter about the wine served by their hosts, an Aquino aide said yesterday. Maria Carmen Mislang, Aquino’s speechwriter who holds the rank of assistant secretary, became an instant Internet celebrity in her own country after her controversial posts — since deleted — on the microblogging site. “The wine sucks @rickycarandang,” Mislang was said to have tweeted on Thursday, in response to an apparent query from her immediate boss, Aquino spokesman Ricky Carandang. The three are attending an ASEAN summit in Vietnam. Local press reports yesterday also quoted her as having posted that there were no handsome local men in the host country, and likening crossing a busy Hanoi street to assisted suicide.
MALAYSIA
Tour bus crash kills seven
Police say a tour bus skidded and overturned while descending from a highland casino, killing seven passengers and injuring 39. The national Bernama news agency says the bus was on the way down from the Genting Highlands in the centerof the country late on Friday when the driver lost control, causing the vehicle to hit the road divider and overturn in the opposite lane. A district police officer confirmed the details yesterday, but couldn’t give further comments. Bernama says the victims were all aged between 13 and 28. It says the crash could have been caused by brake failure, but the driver was also being investigated for reckless driving.
AUSTRALIA
Shark bites swimmer
A shark attacked a woman in waters near a Western Australian naval base yesterday, leaving her with a minor bite wound to her hip, officials said. The 20-year-old suffered the shark bite as she was swimming off the north end of Garden Island naval base, south of Perth, the Fire and Emergency Services Authority said. The woman told her rescuers the attacker was a 3m long great white shark, according to media reports. It is the first significant shark attack since August, when a 31-year-old surfer was mauled to death near Gracetown, also south of Perth.
AUSTRALIA
Chinese paper shot up
Shots have been fired at the office of a Chinese-language newspaper in the north, the publication said yesterday, in an incident it says is linked to its critical coverage of China. Assailants reported to be of Chinese origin opened fire on the Epoch Times’ Brisbane offices late on Thursday, shattering a front window in a drive-by attack, newspaper spokeswoman Margaret Ramsay said. The Epoch Times is one of the country’s largest Chinese-language newspapers. The newspaper said on its Web site that its staff believed it was “an act of intimidation for the media organization’s coverage of controversial issues relating to mainland China.”
AUSTRALIA
No survivors in crash
Rescuers yesterday confirmed there were no survivors from a helicopter crash involving four Frenchmen in Antarctica. The AS350 Squirrel helicopter went missing on Thursday after taking off from the French research ship Astrolabe carrying a pilot, mechanic and two staff from the Dumont d’Urville French Antarctic research base. A distress beacon was activated, but heavy weather hampered search efforts. An air force plane eventually spotted the wreckage on Friday, with three bodies sighted among the debris.
CANADA
Bookworm driver arrested
Police threw the book at a bad driver for reading while navigating Canada’s busiest highway, southwest of Toronto, authorities said on Friday. The Ontario Provincial Police got a call from a concerned motorist about a distracted driver on the 401 Highway near Chatham-Kent, at 2:39am on Thursday. “The motorist told police that a Pontiac G5 was driving down the 401 with its interior light on and the driver was reading a book,” police said in a statement. A highway patrol car located the vehicle, “which was not driving in it’s own lane, straddling the center [road] line and the driver could be seen looking down.” The 24-year-old driver was charged with careless driving.
UNITED STATES
Jurors want karate killer dead
A former karate instructor should be put to death for leading a group of men dressed like ninjas to rob and kill a wealthy Florida couple while their nine special-needs children slept or cowered nearby, a jury recommended on Friday. The jurors voted 10-2 to recommend that Patrick Gonzalez Jr be executed for the slayings of Byrd and Melanie Billings. Gonzalez had no reaction. Under Florida law, the final sentence will be imposed by Judge Nickolas Geeker.
UNITED STATES
Toddler can be sued
A girl can be sued over accusations she ran over an elderly woman with her training bicycle when she was four years old, a New York Supreme Court justice has ruled. The ruling by King’s County Supreme Court Justice Paul Wooten stems from an incident in April last year when Juliet Breitman and Jacob Kohn, both aged four, struck an 87-year-old pedestrian, Claire Menagh, with their training bikes. Menagh underwent surgery for a fractured hip and died three months later. Wooten ruled that she is old enough to be sued and the case can proceed.
UNITED STATES
Palin rebukes B-day greeting
A tongue-in-cheek birthday message to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over Twitter may not have reached the intended recipient, but triggered a rebuke from someone else — former US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley, learning from reporters that Ahmadinejad turned 54 on Thursday, took to the micro-blogging service to ask him to release two US hikers detained in Iran since last year. “Happy birthday President Ahmadinejad. Celebrate by sending Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer home. What a gift that would be,” Crowley tweeted. “Your 54th year was full of lost opportunities. Hope in your 55th year you will open Iran to a different relationship with the world,” read another tweet. Palin was not amused. “Happy B’day Ahmadinejad wish sent by US Govt. Mind boggling foreign policy: kowtow [and] coddle enemies; snub allies. Obama Doctrine is nonsense,” she wrote on Twitter.
UNITED STATES
Ghostly visits claimed by 23%
Ghosts and goblins are more than Halloween decorations or costumes for many Americans who confessed they believe in the supernatural and returning from the grave. Thirty-seven percent of 2,100 adults questioned in a Zogby Interactive poll said they think ghosts are real, and 23 percent believe they have been visited by a deceased relative or friend. Even the 22 percent who said they have not had any ghostly experiences themselves know someone who has.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
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